Two Concerts in Two Nights! Living it up in Prague!

Sitting in St. Clement’s Church, Prague; 19:45, Waiting for Organ Concert; le 22 avril 2005, vendredi

Lest anyone become excited, both concerts have been classical music.

Miss Sophie’s, Room 15, bed 3, Prague; 23:30; le 22 avril 2005, vendredi

So today I went to the Josefov, the old Jewish Quarter. I took the tour of the synagogues, except for the Old-New Synagogue (which also happens to be the oldest and continuous synagogue in Europe). The Old Jewish Cemetery was included on the tour and it was beautiful. If I was a kid, it would have been a dream playground with all the tombstones leaning, falling and lying about… all the infinite combinations of jumping around! But it was very nice to just stroll through, with the sun dappling through the new leaves- like being in a park with all these stones lying around. But in the synagogues, you couldn’t take pictures and there were all these little old Jewish ladies who were standing guard- I did NOT have enough courage to mess with them. They argued with some obnoxious US grad student about getting the student ticket price- he was 35 or something, so I kind of agreed with the little old ladies (plus you've just got to respect them, it comes with the domain of little old ladies), but I sort of agreed with his because he is a student, but he was being such a jerk about getting the price, “…we can call the university in the States.” In the end, my conclusion is that those little old ladies should have given him the evil eye. (Should I hope for something like that, or does it jinx me too?)

Today was also shopping day. I picked up various gifts for the family, which I shall not reveal here in the off chance the family is reading this.

The organ concert tonight was a complete bust! It was just not what I had been hoping for. But I suppose I was hoping for a year and a half ago in Toulouse at St. Sernin for the highlight of the 8th Annual International Organ Festival—in the Basilica St. Sernin, where the organ was built for the first time. But it was still a nice concert, just not great and not what I wanted.

Also, I did something that scared me tonight! I went by myself to a sit-down restaurant for a meal. I went to a place that had some Czech customers but seems to cater mostly to tourists. But I was comfortable. I ordered a beer (oh my!) and the Czech goulash. The goulash was good and now I can say I ate it while in the Czech Republic.

Traveling alone is still difficult for me. But in some ways, I’m really coming to enjoy it. And I think I want to travel alone some more.

Oh, to explain my title for the night before… Listening to Dvorak’s New World Symphony, I could hear all the sounds of home in the various movements. And it made me realize that deep down, I’m still just a country girl. It reaffirmed what I already know- I shall need to return to the country to live eventually.